Cotton gin with belt mote board



fiw. 20, 1942. T. a GRIME zzmmo 1 COTTON GIN WITH BELT MOTE BOARD Filed Feb. 8, 1941 Y Patented Jan. 20, 1942 COTTON GIN WITH BELT .MOTE BOARD Thaddeus S. Grimes, Columbus, 6a., assig'nor to Lummus Cotton Gin 00., Columbus, Ga., a corporation of Georgia Application February a, 1941, serial No.378,089

Claims.

This invention relates to cotton gins of the centrifugal moting type in which a division board or its equivalent has heretofore been employed to keep the ejected motes from dropping back into the saws.

Such a'division board has the drawback that it presents a stationary edge upon which sticky particles such as honeydew are deposited, in which lint, trash and motes collect, building up amass which finally. breaks off with a good chance of being carried past the saws into the lint.

Various expedients have been devised for removing this accumulation, all of which have been affected with some disadvantage, in use. In my Patent No. 2,053,190, granted September 1, 1936, I have disclosed a construction in which a horizontally arranged belt conveyor has been provided to carry off the centrifugally ejected motes and trash, the belt running close to the division board and the height of the latter being reduced substantially to the level of the surface of the belt, the purpose being to have the moving belt break and carry away the accumulated mass which deposits upon the top edge of the division board and bridges over upon the belt. Even this expedient is not wholly effective, for it is a matter of chance whether the detached acciunulated mass will follow-the belt or drop between the division board and saws. V

The general object of the present invention is not to remove this accumulated mass, but to prevent its accumulationj This it does by the avoidance of any fixed upwardly exposed edge or surface upon which the sticky substance can accretively deposit, and by the provision of a continuously longitudinally moving surface confronting the saws and overlying any fixed structure which may be immediately adjacent the saws, in position to receivejthe sticky deposit and carry it ofi as fast as received.

Another object of the invention is to provide in'a gin of the type described, continuously lon-V.

gitudinally movingv belt means which may be a conveyor, confronting the saws in position to receive the centrifugally thrown sticky particles,

' fore,an object of present invention'to'make the continuously moving sticky substance 'disposing surface of nonmetalli'c material;

Other objects of the invention williappear as the following description of a'preferre'd and practical embodiment thereof proceeds- In the drawing throughout the several of which the same characters of rferencehave been employed to designateidenticalpartsr Figure 1 is a vertical section through-a portion of a cotton gin illustrating; theLsubject invention;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the belt supporting trough; and r Q Figure 3 is a longitudinal elevational view, largely diagrammatic, through the belt conveyor.

Referring now in detail to'the several figures, the numeral l represents the saw cylinder, the saws of which travel between the ginning ribs 2 at high speed. The motes are thrown from the saws upon their emergence from between the ribs into the chamber 3, and in the illustrated embodiment of the invention they drop upon the upper flight 4- of the belt 5, the latter. being mounted to travel horizontally throughout at least the longitudinal extent of a single gin or a battery of aligned gins, parallel to and within 7 proper operative distance to the saw cylinders.

Boththe upper and lower flights-i and 6 of the belt 5 are supported uponsuitable longitudinally extending plates 1 and 8, respectively. The upper plate I is formed with front and back flanges 9 and II), the front flange being'cutaway, that is to say, discontinuous throughout the length of a saw cylinder down to the point II, which lies. entirely beneath the upper flight 4 o'ithe belt. Thus, that edgeof the belt which confronts the saw cylinder is exposed throughout the length of the saw cylinder, and it completely overlies the adjacent part of the plate 1. Thus, it is in position to receive :thesticky particles, of honeydew, etc. centrifugally thrown oiiffrom the saw cylinder. l

, Inasmuch as the beltvis continuously traveling longitudinally of the saw cylinder, the sticky substance and the lint,'tras' h and motes which would ordinarily adhere thereto do not accumulate into Y .a mass, but are carried awayoiithe belt as fast as they are deposited thereupon; and as the belt completely overlies and protectsat least that part of the plate I which is adjacentlto the "saw cylinder, this part of theplateis altogether pro-' I tected from contact of the sticky substance.

The belt 5 preferably'extends beyond one end of the saw cylinder I, as indicated in. Figure 3,

and at this point it is engaged by the rotary brush l2 which removes the deposit of sticky substance from the belt.

As the belt is made of nonmetallic material, preferably cotton canvas, the sticky substance does not tenaciously adhere to said belt, and therefore, may easly be removed.

The lower plate 8 is preferably trough-shaped, being formed with the front and back flanges I3 and II. As shown, the said flanges are welded to the upper plate I so as to form with said upper plate a unitary structure. The outer face I5 of the flange I! will not collect an objectionable mass of the sticky substance, etc., for a strong downward air current intervenes in the narrow passage betwen the saw cylinder and the flange l3, which blows the sticky substance, etc., downward through said passage.

It will be understood that if the honeydew, etc., mixes with the lint homogeneously distributed, it will not hurt the sample, the objectionable feature being that if accretions of such sticky substance, etc., mix with the lint, they may spoil the samp e.

While I have shown the continuously moving member in the form of a belt having the dual function of a mote conveyor and of a means for receiving and removing the sticky substance which would otherwise cause a mass to accumu late adjacent the throat formed between the saw cylinder and the structure which constitutes the mote receiving chamber, it is not essential to the invention that the moving member have the function of a conveyor.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the specific details of construction and the arrangement of parts as herein shown and described are largely by way of example, and not to be construed as restricting the scope of the invention which is defined in the appended claims.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. Cotton gin comprising a saw cylinder, and means defining a moting chamber adjacent thereto, said chamber defining means including a member continuously movable longitudinally of said saw cylinder parallel thereto, defining with said saw cylinder the upper part of a lint passage, supporting means for said movable member having that portion which is proximate to said saw cylinder overlain by said movable member throughout the zone of centrifugal discharge from said saw cylinder, said movable member extending beyond said saw cylinder, and means engageable with said extended portion for clearing said movable member of deposited matter.

2. Cotton gin comprising asaw cylinder, and defining a moting chamber adjacent thereto, said chamber defining means including a belt conveyor continuously movable longitudinally of said saw cylinder parallel thereto defining with said saw cylinder the upper part of lint passage past said saw cylinder, supporting means for the upper flight of said belt conveyor having that portion which is proximate to said saw cylinder overlain by said top flight throughout the zone of centrifugal discharge from said saw cylinder, said belt conveyor extending beyond said saw cylinder, and means engageable with said extending portion for clearing said belt conveyor of deposited matter.

3. Cotton gin comprising a saw cylinder, and means defining a moting chamber adjacent posed to said centrifugal discharge.

thereto, a trough forming th lower part of said moting chamber comprising a flanged belt supporting plate extending parallel to and spaced from said saw cylinder, the front flange of said plate being discontinuous throughout the length of the saw cylinder, 9. continuous belt conveyor having its top flight supported by said plate, having that edge which is exposed in those regions where said front flange is discontinued defining with said saw cylinder the upper part of a lint passage past said saw cylinder, the portion of said plate which is proximate to said saw cylinder being overlain by said top flight throughout the zone of centrifugal discharge from said saw cylinder.

4. Battery of cotton gins including a series of longitudinally spaced saw cylinders and means defining moting chambers adjacent to each, a trough comprising a flanged belt supporting plate extending longitudinally past said series of saw cylinders, parallel thereto and spaced therefrom and forming the lower parts of said moting chambers, the front flange of said plate being discontinuous and absent throughout the zones of centrifugal discharge of said saw cylinders, a continuous belt-conveyor having its top flight supported by said plate, having that edge which is exposed in'those regions where said front flange is discontinued defining with said saw cylinders the upper parts of lint passages past said saw cylinders, the portion of said plat which is proximate said saw cylinders being overlain by said top flight throughout said zones of centrifugal discharge.

5. Cotton gin comprising a saw cylinder, and means defining a moting chamber adjacent thereto, said chamber-defining means including a member continuously movable longitudinally of said saw cylinder parallel thereto, and itself constituting the foremost portion of structure defining with said, saw cylinder a lint passage past said saw cylinder.

6.'Cotton gin comprising a saw cylinder, and means defining a moting chamber adjacent thereto, said chamber-defining means including a member continuously movable longitudinally of said saw cylinder parallel thereto, defining with said saw cylinder the-upper part of a lint passage past said saw cylinder. and supporting means for said movable member, the latter overlying that part of the supporting means which is proximate to said saw cylinder throughout the zone of centrifugal discharge and being exposed to said centrifugal discharge.

7. Cotton gin comprising a saw cylinder, and means defining a moting chamber adjacent thereto, said chamber-defining means including a belt conveyor continuously movable longitudinally of said saw cylinder parallel thereto, and itself constituting the foremost portion of structure defining with said saw cylinder the upper part of a lint passage past said saw cylinder.

8. Cotton gin comprising a saw cylinder, and means defining a moting chamber adjacent thereto, said chamber-defining means including a belt conveyor continuously movable longitudi hally of said saw cylinder parallel thereto, deflning with said saw cylinder the upper part of a lint passage past said saw cylinder, and supporting means for the upper flight of said belt conveyor, said upper flight overlying that part of said supporting means which is proximate to said saw cylinder throughout the zone of centrifugal discharge from said saw cylinder and being exmeans defining a mating chamber adjacent there- 10 to, said chamber-defining means including a. continuous belt moving transversely in front of said saw cylinder parallel thereto and exposed in the trajectory path of matter thrown ofi from the saw cylinder, said belt defining the incident edge of a lint passage past said saw cylinder, and means in operative proximity to said b'elt, located at a:

point remote from the exposed region for cleaning said belt.

THADDEUS S. GRIMES. 

